Genre Grandeur – Air Force One (1997) – Encore Review 2 – MovieRob

For this month’s next review for Genre Grandeur – Die Hard Doppelganger Movies, here’s a review of Air Force One (1997) by me

Next month’s genre has been chosen by Alan Sanders of the Wilder Ride and we will be reviewing our favorite Fantasy Movies of the 21st Century

Please get me your submissions by the 25th of Jul by sending them to FantasyAlan@movierob.net

Try to think out of the box!

Let’s see what I thought of this movie:

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“GET OFF MY PLANE!” – President James Marshall

Number of Times Seen – Between 5-10 times (Theater in ’97, cable, video, DVD, 3 May 2015, 14 Jun 2020 and 29 Jun 2022)

Link to original review – Here and Here

Brief Synopsis – After terrorists take over Air Force One, the President must try and evade capture while trying to save the rest of the passengers.

My Take on it – This is such a fun Die Hard doppelganger and that has a lot to do with the performance of Harrison Ford as the President.

The story is action packed and the claustrophobic feel of one of the largest planes ever made works well in keeping things so engaging and thrilling from start to finish.

The film, (like most like it), have lots of plot holes, yet still manages to stay so entertaining the entire time.

Gary Oldman is perfectly cast as the intense and evil leader of the bad guys and his ruthfulness is completely believable.

The way that Ford plays this character is superb and he easily portrays one of most likeable fictional Presidents in movie history largely due to his ability to make the action scenes and the dramatic ones fee;l very real.

Great supporting cast that works really well.

William H. Macy is the standout for me and does a wonderful job with what he is given.

The film’s score is very patriotic and enhances things even more as things progress.

The film has a great theme that constantly brings up the debate as to what is more important; the office of the Presidency or the person currently in that position.

Despite not giving a definitive answer, it still works great as an on-screen debate.

Highly Recommended!

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – This turned out to be the last of a wave of “Die Hard”-inspired thrillers (action movies where terrorists invade a confined space and are foiled by a lone hero/saboteur). One reason was that, by now, every conceivable multi-passenger vehicle (planes, trains, city buses) had been tried. (From IMDB)

Rating – Oscar Worthy (9/10) (no change from original review)